I recently finished reading a romance that I enjoyed. The characters were likable, exercised common sense, and were respectful of each other all the way through. They were reunited lovers–one of my favorite storylines–and there were some fundamental personality changes that needed to take place in order to reach a resolution. I finished the story with a smile. However, it didn’t make my “keeper shelf” where the books I’m certain to re-read go. In a while, I’ll probably forget I read the story.

Why? That’s the question I asked myself when I closed the book. What was missing that made the story forgettable?

Looking back, I realized it was lack of conflict for the heroine. The couple broke up because of issues the hero had and those issues had to be resolved to achieve their happily ever after. But the heroine hadn’t had, nor been part of, the problem and while the hero had to make some big internal changes, she didn’t. She was the same woman he fell in love with and she didn’t have to alter in any way to make them work as a couple.

There was conflict elsewhere in the story–external and the hero’s internal–but it missed the ahhh sensation due to the heroine not having a personal conflict of her own to deal with.

As I was contemplating this further, I was reminded of the scene in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening where Betty Buckley (playing a nutjob, which was creepier for me because of her past roles as the mom on Eight is Enough and the sweet gym teacher in Carrie) asks Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel, “Who’s chasing whom?” explaining that in every romantic relationship one person is always chasing the other.

In the books I love most, not only are the protagonists chasing each other, they’re chasing their personal dreams, and they’re conflicted about how to make them happen and still get their (wo)man. My favorite books are those where the internal conflicts of each character morph and grow as the story progresses, where the changes they need to make take place before the end of the book and initiate the need for even more changes. This doesn’t mean the book has to be angsty and/or dark. Even romantic comedies can have characters dealing with layered, personal internal conflicts in addition to their romantic and external ones.

Stories can still be enjoyable with only one of the main protagonists dealing with a major (or multiple major conflicts). The non-conflicted character can still be admirable and real. They can have faults and foibles, goals and full lives. But without some friction, there’s not as much for me to root for and become invested in as a reader. I really, really dislike conflict in my daily life, but I really, really crave it in my reading material.

So how about you? Are you a conflict junky, too? What are some of your favorite conflicted heroes/heroines? Were their partners equally driven to change and grow? And just for fun, because it’s Monday and we all have a new week in which to rock our respective worlds, I’ll give away a tote bag and winner’s choice of my backlist (anthologies are iffy, but if I have it, I’ll send it.) to one of the commentors. Winner will be announced this weekend.

Happy Monday!

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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Although it’s still winter, I’ve been doing spring cleaning since the start of the year. This “out with the old, in with the new” phase has affected every part of my life, and I am really invigorated by it. It’s wonderful how closing the door on something can open new possibilities.

On a personal level, my house is going through a transformation. I began with the downstairs. I’ve taken it room by room, so it doesn’t seem overwhelming. I have thrown out so many things and tackled “hot spots” where various unrelated items seem to accumulate (most of which should rightly go into the trash, but don’t make it that far). Anything that could even remotely be called clutter has left the building. I’ve replaced curtains, added furniture, tossed or moved furniture, fixed things that have needed to be fixed for far too long, etc. I’m not talking about expensive changes. More like the kind of low-cost changes made for “staging” purposes. The family room and living room are done, and the transformation within our family has been amazing. We all love hanging out in these “new” spaces more than ever. We kind of fell into a rut where we stopped seeing the details and no longer contemplated change. Does the sofa have to be there? Wouldn’t it be fun to have it over here?

I’m doing something similar in my professional life. I saw a lot of triumphs and successes in 2009, but it was also the toughest year I’ve had in my career. It’s only recently that I have come to appreciate the value of my experiences, as miserable as some of them were. I am a bit wiser, more circumspect, and more grateful for what I do have. I’m not sure I paid the dues I should have in the beginning; I am stronger for having paid some of them now.

So I’m doing some spring cleaning on the way I view and approach things. Just like with my house, even though the architecture hasn’t changed, my appreciation level has increased. I’m feeling good about a lot of things in my life right now, even though it’s been better, and that’s because of my investment in looking at things with fresh eyes. I wish I’d done all this clearing out sooner!

Oh, and I sent my latest proposal to my agent last week and I got a really excited phone call from her about it! That made my week.

On a somewhat lighter note, I thought you might enjoy this:

We went shopping for a new dryer on Saturday. We stopped by a few different places — Best Buy, Home Depot, etc. — before we went to Sears. I couldn’t believe the number of salespeople they had on the floor. The appliance center had at least a half-dozen people assigned to it. As “our” salesman was showing off the various features of the dryer we ended up taking home, I noticed something in his back pocket and had to snap a picture.

HQ Presents and Dryers

Yes, our 6+ feet, 250 lbs. salesman had a Harlequin Presents in his back pocket. I thought that was fabulous!

(Is anyone else watching Spartacus: Blood and Sand on Starz? Yum.)

©2010 Murder She Writes. All Rights Reserved.

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Today on Bitten By Books:

Daily Book Chat and Contest
Marked Series by S. J. Day

http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=19305

One lucky winner will win a bag of author swag, open to readers worldwide!